RF transmitter for efficiently compensating output power variation due to temperature and process

• US 20060146956A1
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Bae, Jong-Dae, Kim, Jae-Wan
• Granted Patent: US 7,564,922 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/297
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 2200/0058 with particular transconductance characteristics, e.g. an operational transconductance amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 5/24 active element in amplifier being semiconductor device H03B5/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/30 Modifications of amplifiers to reduce influence of variations of temperature or supply voltage or other physical parameters in differential amplifiers H03F3/45479
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0416 having gain or transmission power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/368 adaptive predistortion

Abstract

An RF transmitter includes a modulating circuit adapted to modulating an RF signal, an output amplifier adapted to amplify the modulated RF signal; an auto tuner generating a tuning voltage that varies in accordance with operating temperature fluctuations and/or manufacturing process variances, and a reference current generating circuit adapted to generate a reference current in response to the tuning voltage.

Claims

1. A radio frequency (RF) transmitter, comprising:

a modulating circuit adapted to modulate an RF signal to be transmitted;

a feedback controlled power amplifier adapted to amplify the RF signal;

an auto tuner adapted to generating a tuning voltage that varies in accordance with operating temperature fluctuations or manufacturing process variances; and

a reference current generator adapted to generate a reference current in response to the tuning voltage,

wherein the modulating circuit is further adapted to control the amplitude of the RF signal in accordance with the tuning voltage and the reference current.

2. The RF transmitter of claim 1, wherein the auto tuner comprises:

a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) adapted to generate a frequency controlled signal in response to the tuning voltage;

a phase comparator adapted to detect a difference value between the frequency controlled signal and a reference frequency signal;

a charge pump adapted to generate a voltage corresponding to the detected difference value; and

a loop filter adapted to generate the tuning voltage by filtering the voltage provided by the charge pump.

3. The RF transmitter of claim 2, wherein the VCO comprises a resonator using a transconductor as a resistance, wherein the performance characteristics of the transconductor vary with operating temperature fluctuations or manufacturing process variances.

4. The RF transmitter of claim 3, wherein the auto tuner further comprises a phase locked loop circuit, and wherein the tuning voltage varies in accordance with operating temperature fluctuations or manufacturing process variances when the phase tuning voltage is locked.

5. The RF transmitter of claim 1, wherein the modulating circuit comprises:

a digital-to-analog converter adapted to receive the reference current and further adapted to convert input digital data to analog signals;

a low pass filter adapted to filter-convert the analog signals; and

,

a mixer adapted to modulate the filtered-converted analog signals to form the RF signal.

6. The RF transmitter of claim 5, wherein the low pass filter comprises a transconductor having a resistance that varies with the tuning voltage.

7. The RF transmitter of claim 5, wherein the mixer comprises a transconductor adapted to synchronize the low pass filter to level variations of at least one of the analog signal in accordance with the tuning voltage.

8. The RF transmitter of claim 1, wherein the feedback controlled power amplifier comprises:

a power amplifier adapted to receive a bias current, and further adapted to amplify the RF signal provided by the modulating circuit; and

an auto level controller adapted to compare an output voltage for the power amplifier with a reference voltage, and further adapted to variably generate the bias current in accordance with the comparison.

9. The RF transmitter of claim 1, wherein the reference current generating circuit comprises:

a voltage divider adapted to generate a reference voltage in response to the tuning voltage; and

a current generator adapted to receive the reference voltage, and further adapted to generate the reference current in accordance with the tuning voltage.

10. The RF transmitter of claim 9, wherein the reference current generating circuit further comprises a process compensating unit connected to a current node at which the reference current is apparent.

11. The RF transmitter of claim 10, wherein the process compensating unit comprises:

a process state voltage generator adapted to generate a first process state voltage representing a fast process state and a second process state voltage representing a slow process state;

a first constant current source and a first switch serially connected to the current node;

a second switch and a second constant current source serially connected to the current node; and

a switch controller adapted to control the first switch and the second switch in response to the first process state voltage, the second process state voltage, and the tuning voltage.

12. A radio frequency (RF) transmitter, comprising:

a digital-to-analog converter adapted to receive Inphase binary data and Quadrature binary data and further adapted to convert the Inphase binary data and Quadrature binary data to analog baseband signals using a reference current;

a low pass filter comprising a transconductor having a resistance that varies in accordance with a tuning voltage and adapted to filter-convert the analog baseband signals;

a mixer comprising a transconductor adapted to synchronize the low pass filter to level variations of at least one of the baseband analog signal in accordance with the tuning voltage and adapted to modulate the filtered-converted analog baseband signals onto a carrier signal to generate the RF signal; and

,

a power amplifier receiving and amplifying the RF signal, and configured such that the output of the power amplifier is stabilized by an auto level control loop controlled by the tuning voltage to compensate for operating temperature fluctuations or manufacturing process variances.

13. The RF transmitter of clam 12, further comprising:

a reference current generator adapted to generate the reference current in response to the tuning voltage.